


(I'd Rather Be) Alone With You

by Redezzy



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Halloween, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 21:42:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21260096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redezzy/pseuds/Redezzy
Summary: On Halloween night, Hope pitches the idea of going to a haunted house to Josie. She agrees, and the two go with a group of friends.Somewhere along the way, they get separated from everyone else, and they spend the rest of the night alone.





	(I'd Rather Be) Alone With You

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Halloween! Enjoy!
> 
> Thank you to everyone who helped with this fic :)

Hope had an idea stuck in her head about a haunted house she had seen advertised. It was later that night, and she wanted to go with Josie. Not knowing exactly how Josie felt about haunted houses, she didn't know how to broach the subject.

Hovering in the doorway, Hope found Josie standing in the kitchen. She decided to just pitch the idea, "Hey, Josie?" 

She turned to her and hummed, and Hope went for it, "Do you want to go to a haunted house later tonight?" 

Josie hesitated, "Hope..." she trailed off. 

Hope picked up where she left off, taking a few steps closer to her and asking in a low voice, "What? Are you scared? You think I wouldn't be there to protect you?"

She took a few more steps, only one away from her. Hope took the final step and put her hand on Josie's waist, "I'll always be there to protect you."

Josie smiled, and then she laughed, "I know you will, babe." She glanced at Hope's hand, and then looked back at Hope, "Sure, let's go."

Hope smiled and pulled her closer, first into a close hug and then into a small kiss. She broke away and grinned, "Do you want to invite anyone else?

Josie cocked her head to the side, "Can I?"

"Of course, invite whoever you want."

"Okay, cool. I'll invite Lizzie and MG," she paused, thinking, “Kaleb and Landon, um, Maya, and Ethan. Anyone else?”

Hope pondered this, "I don't think so, no." 

"Okay, cool. I'll text them later."

"Great. Thank you, by the way. And remember, I'll protect you," she looked at her with a fire in her eyes, but Josie couldn't tell if it was real or supposed to be funny.

The taller girl chuckled and shook her head, turning back to what she was doing, "I know you will, babe."

Hope looked over her shoulder, "What are you doing?"

"Making Halloween cookies. Want to help?" Josie looked up from her recipe.

“Yeah, but why are we making cookies?” She questioned, trying to think if they were going to a party or something where they would need to bring cookies.

“Because I wanted them,” she stated simply.

"I’ll get the eggs, milk, and butter from the fridge.” Hope turned on her heel and grabbed her phone first, pairing it with the speaker and turning on a classic Halloween playlist before going to the fridge and pulling out the ingredients and setting them on the counter next to the recipe book.

They spent the next hour rolling out dough and trying to make shapes while singing along to Monster Mash. They cut out ghosts, pumpkins, and bats only for the first batch to come out as oddly shaped blobs.

For the second batch, Josie pulled out her cookie cutters, which only caused Hope to ask “And where were those the first time?” with a smile, to which Josie just smirked and handed her one, shaking her head.

While the second batch was in the oven, the two started decorating the first batch. They were using icing for these and sprinkles on the others. Hope picked up a packet and started icing one cookie, “I guess now it’s up to artistic interpretation for what these are.”

Josie laughed and started drawing a swirl on her’s, actually trying to make it look nice. She squeezed icing into a haphazard bat shape and moved onto the ghost, which was more like an oval, but she didn’t care.

Hope watched her carefully, holding her icing packet at the ready. Josie lifted her hand from her cookie and tilted her head to look at it. Hope took her chance, booping her nose with a dot of icing.

Josie mocked shock and grabbed her icing, getting it first on Hope’s hand and then on her cheek, moving quickly to escape the impending dollop of icing heading for her arm.

Josie ran around the counter and Hope chased her, the cookies on the counter forgotten. They ran around, not stopping to catch their breath from laughing. Only when the timer for the oven went off did they abandon the icing war, walking away with battle scars all over their arms and faces.

Hope collapsed against the counter while Josie pulled the second batch out of the oven. They were slightly distorted from their original shape but you could still tell what they were. The sprinkles were baked in, so the cookies just had to cool and they would be done.

Josie moved the cookies from the baking pan to a cooling rack she had set out and put the pans in the sink. She walked to Hope, who was leaning her elbows on the counter and watching her quietly. She spun her around and slipped her arms around her waist, “Hi.”

“Hi,” she giggled.

“Thanks for making cookies with me.”

“Anytime.”

Josie leaned in and kissed her before pulling away, slipping out of her arms and grabbing one of the cookies, taking a bite all the while handing one to Hope and turning to go get ready for the haunted house.

Hope took a bite too, humming and speaking to an empty room, “Not bad for a blob.”

///

An hour later Josie, Hope, Lizzie, Maya, MG, Kaleb, Landon and Ethan were paying for their tickets for the haunted house. Everyone had said yes when Josie asked if they wanted to come, so they had a little group for the house.

Landon was fiddling with his flannel, shifting from foot to foot, muttering something under his breath.

Lizzie called him out, "What is it?"

"I didn't even want to come here in the first place."

"What, Wee Willy Winkle, are you scared?"

"Do you know how many movies are about dying in a haunted house?” Landon rationed.

“Oh, please, mophead, just come on. I don’t have the energy for scaredy cats tonight.” Lizzie grabbed her ticket and started walking away from him, leaving him to fidget alone.

Everyone paid for their tickets and started to usher into the house as one huddle. The guy taking tickets, dressed up as a mad scientist, stopped them, saying, “You can’t all go in as one big huddle.”

They turned towards one another and looked around for a quiet second before all beginning to speak at once, lines of _I’m not going first_, _I don’t want to be at the back_, and _I am not going to be last_ all blending together.

Hope raised her voice, "Guys! Let's just figure this out."

Lizzie spoke up, "Look, Mikaelson, I am so not being in the back."

Ethan nonchalantly spoke up to try and diffuse the situation, "You know, the back is actually the safest place to be."

Landon perked up, "Really?"

He nodded and said, "Yeah, you're away from the danger at the front."

Almost immediately, Landon hurried to the back, pulling MG and Kaleb with him.

Ethan snickered and stood in front of them, leaving Hope, Josie, Lizzie, and Maya to choose their places.

Maya just looked at them while the rest of the group exchanged a look, causing Hope to wordlessly pull Josie with her to the front, leaving Lizzie and Maya in the middle.

Finally having chosen their places, the eight entered the haunted house with Hope boldly leading the pack.

They walked into the house and into the first room, passing through an abandoned hospital room with flickering lights and a scratched bed.

Landon cowered behind Ethan as a person dressed in a hospital gown started toward them.

He looked at him, “What are you doing?”

“Dude, you’re dressed up as Thor.”

“Well, yeah. I have a thunderbolt in my right arm.” He flexed, showing off.

Lizzie scoffs, “Please. Besides, your costume," she put air quotes around _costume_, “consists of a tight shirt with his hammer on it.

Maya snickered, trying to hide it behind her hand with a cough.

Ethan cast her a look, “Yeah, well, I don’t see you wearing a costume.”

Lizzie opened her mouth to shoot back at him but was interrupted by Landon, “Now you have a chance to use your thunderbolt, which I’m sure you desperately want an excuse to use.”

He tilted his head to the side, letting out a fake laugh, “And what’s the chance?”

“Protect us.”

The girls burst out laughing and Lizzie muttered, “See? Scaredy cat.”

An automated scream filled the room as they stepped past some markings on the wall.

Maya jumped and squealed, grabbing onto the nearest arm, thinking it was her brother.

Lizzie stopped walking but didn't turn her head, “MG, detach yourself from me please.”

Maya loosened her grip, still scared, “Sorry, I thought you were my brother.”

“Oh, Maya, it’s okay, don’t worry about it.”

Maya didn’t drop her arms, clinging onto Lizzie, “Thanks.”

“No problem. Also, I love your shoes.”

She grinned, “I was thinking the same thing about your shirt."

The two laughed and started talking more, Maya's arms still latched onto Lizzie's left one, and they became fast friends. They had a lot in common, it only took one fake scream to get them to interact.

The group passed into the second room, a graveyard scene. A zombie jumped out at them and Josie just chuckled, saying, "I've seen worse."

Hope nodded her head and kept walking through, into the next room, a laboratory.

Kaleb made a remark, "Looks like the guy at the front is out of place."

He was trying to play it cool, but he was scared by the little things, even though he would never admit it.

A creaking sound came out of a hidden speaker and a light came on in the corner, making a lab table visible. It was complete with a dummy.

The fake body started to raise up, drawing its hand to the group as they passed.

While their attention was directed at that, the mad scientist ticket taker jumped out at them from the side.

Kaleb wasn't expecting it, his nerves on high, he jumped and screamed, quickly brushing his nose and clearing his throat, trying to play it off.

Everyone started laughing, and he said, "I don't know what y'all are talking 'bout, that was my boy MG." He sniffed and stalked away, adding, "Let's go."

The group started walking again, trying to stifle another laugh while MG sulked behind them, thrown under the bus. They passed into the fourth room, what looked like a witch's lair, finished off with a grimoire, symbols on the walls, and a wall with shelves stacked high with ancient ingredients.

A cauldron sat in the middle of the room, glowing purple to green and bubbling. A cackle came from somewhere unseen and the girls collectively grinned.

They stuck together as they walked through the last room into a hallway, the exit at the end of the seemingly long passage.

A cracked mirror hung on their right, and holes in the wall decorated the left.

Not seeing anything terrible, the group calmly took a few steps down the hallway.

Suddenly, in the heavy silence, a low sound started behind them. The group kept walking, not thinking anything of it, only for the sound to blare out.

The first thing their ears did was adjust to the sound.

The second thing their ears did was realize that it was a chainsaw.

The third thing their ears did was be shattered by the boys screams.

Before the group could even process what was happening, the back three boys were yelling and screaming and running, pushing the group forward, eliciting a string of curses and warnings to stop.

They burst through the exit, tripping over one another with their pounding hearts and elevated adrenaline.

They all just looked at each other for a pregnant, heavy breathing second before one of them started giggling, and the rest quickly followed suit, high on adrenaline and nervous laughter.

Holding their stomachs, a few tears escaping their eyes, the laughing subsided enough for Maya to say between gasps, "Hey, where's Hope and Josie?"

A few more loose giggles left their mouths as they looked around, trying to catch their breath, looking for the two girls.

"Uh, I don't know. Maybe they're still in the house?" MG offered.

Lizzie took a deep breath, "Then, c'mon guys, let's go find them, they probably got separated from us when the three children at the back freaked out at the end."

The three boys shot her a look, and Landon spoke up, not ashamed of his fear, "First of all, that was scary. Second of all, we can't go back in there."

"What, are you scared again? We've already been in there once, it's nothing new." Lizzie replied, taking one step back towards the door.

Ethan interjected, "No, he's right, once you come out, you're not allowed to go back in."

"We can't just leave them in there."

"Why not? You said it yourself, they're safe."

Lizzie crossed her arms and stewed, eating her own words, "Fine."

Kaleb clapped his hands, "Alright, y'all, let's bounce."

Already walking away, the group had no choice but to follow, walking quickly to catch up.

Back inside the house, Josie found herself in Hope's arms. She pulled back, "What happened?"

"The boys freaked out when the chainsaw guy started chasing us. I pulled us into a side room, see?"

She looked around to find a somewhat small room. It was dark and quiet, but not the scary kind of quiet, it was the calm kind of quiet.

"Oh, okay." She drew back fully from Hope, taking a step away, looking around, "It's peaceful in here."

"Yeah," Hope smiled, watching her, "We can go whenever you want, everyone else is probably wondering where we are."

"I kinda need a breather." Josie turned and looked at her.

"Yeah, me too, I understand." They both took a deep breath and revelled in the quiet.

A beat of silence passed before Josie added quietly, "Besides, I'd rather be alone with you."

Hope broke out in a grin despite herself, and Josie took a step closer to her, and another.

She closed the gap and leaned to kiss Hope slowly, the air around them oddly silent and calm, the noises of the haunted house fading away.

Hope closed the miniscule gap between their lips and put her hands on Josie's waist, pulling her closer.

Josie put her hands on Hope's elbows, snaking up her arms to her neck to her face, cupping her face softly.

Screams erupted somewhere close, but they didn't pull back for another second.

Josie leaned back and smiled a smile that reached her eyes, her eyes crinkling at the edges and twinkling like stars.

Hope couldn't help but smile too.

The auburn haired girl slipped her hand into the taller girl's and asked, "Ready?" 

She asked even though she didn't want to leave, even though she didn't want this moment to end.

Josie interlaced their fingers and sighed, saying, "We probably should be, shouldn't we?"

Hope sighed in response, "Yeah."

Wordlessly the two took a step towards the exit, getting closer to the yells and closer to the laughter, closer to the rest of the world, the world that hadn't existed in that moment.

They left the room, finding themselves next to the chainsaw guy, unprepared and apparently jumpy. They walked beside him and said hi, causing him to jump, which only made them giggle.

When they looked at it from this perspective, it wasn't scary. It was all fabricated in the heat of the moment, and there was something oddly cinematic about it all.

Hope and Josie found their way to the exit, completing the trek down the hallway. They pushed open the door, breathing in the chilly outside fall air.

They fell out of the house alone, laughing into the dark of the night, and made their way back around to the front entrance. They were separated from the group but they didn't care.

The scene around them was lit up with shrieks of laughter and yells of conversations, and somehow it felt like a certain part of Halloween had come alive there.

Hope and Josie looked around for the group, but couldn't see them through all the other groups of people.

"I wonder where they are, they didn't wait for us." Josie craned her head.

"I don't know, but I like it just being us."

Josie brought her eyes back to Hope's, the task of finding the group quickly forgotten. "Me too," she said with a smile.

"Do you want to ditch them?" Hope asked with a playful grin.

"I would love to. Besides, I can't find them anyway."

"Perfect." Hope grabbed Josie's hand and turned towards the corn maze nearby, "Want to go in the corn maze?"

"Sure." And with that, they set off to go in the corn maze, abandoning the group that had abandoned them.

They walked through the entrance to the maze and Josie said, "I think you're just supposed to take right turns."

"I'm okay with getting lost with you."

Josie blushed and looked at the ground, swinging their hands back and forth and nodding her head.

They weaved their way through the quiet corn maze, getting lost and found with each other.

Eventually finding the exit again, the two walked out into the rest of the world, still hand in hand.

They stepped off to the side, surveying the scene. There was a group just entering the haunted house, and one leaving. There were large huddles of people spread out throughout the area, the occasional burst of laughter floating over to them. Some were in costume, some were not.

Looking at it off to the side, it felt like they were alone. There were people all around them but, at the same time, they were all alone.

And they were okay with that.

Hope asked, "Do you want to find the others?"

Josie thought about it for a second. As much as she loved the group, she loved Hope more. "I'm good, I would rather spend the evening with just you."

The caused the shorter girl to grin from ear to ear, her cheeks blushing in the process, "Okay."

Josie shivered, "Is there anything else you want to do before we go home?"

"I don't think so. We can walk, it's not far."

"Okay." She waited for Hope to take the lead, knowing she knew the way around.

Hope turned in the direction of where they wanted to go and started off without so much as a second thought to which way she was going.

She stopped in her tracks, "Wait, do you want to go through the woods or through downtown?"

"I think I've had enough Halloween horror for one night, let's go through the suburbs."

Hope nodded, understanding, "Got it. There is still a little bit to walk through the woods though." She turned around and started walking in a different direction.

"As long as you'll protect me." Josie smirked.

Hope shook her head with a smile and held her hand tighter, leading her into a small patch of woods that bordered the suburbs.

It wasn't dark, the full moon lighting up their path, casting shadows of the trees all around them.

Halfway through, breaking sticks under their feet, they heard a howl in the distance and the air felt chillier.

Josie gripped the hand she was holding and shivered. Hope rubbed a little circle on her hand, comforting her.

They broke out of the woods into a cul-de-sac, and the sounds of children trick-or-treating filled the night.

A few minutes later, they were passing by houses with lights on in the windows and groups of kids in costumes on the sidewalk.

It was a different kind of atmosphere than the one they had been in before, this one displayed another side of Halloween.

Josie remembered her trick-or-treating years, going door to door with Lizzie up until the year that Lizzie deemed it lame and started going to parties instead.

She asked, "Did you trick-or-treat when you were a kid?"

"Yeah, when I was little. My dad would take me sometimes, other times it would be my mom or one of my uncles or aunts. Afterwards we would go home and eat all of the candy we got together."

"Sounds like those are good memories," she smiled fondly.

"They are. What about you? Did you go?"

"Yeah, I went with Lizzie. We would go home and sit on our bedroom floor and divide up the candy, she would give me what she didn't like and I would give her what I didn't like. It was weird, the things one of us hated were usually the things the other one of us loved." She paused, "Eventually, she decided it was too childish, and we stopped going."

Hope hummed and sighed into the night. She turned left and kept walking, letting them fall into silence.

They passed by a group of kids carrying pumpkin bags filled with candy and they thought about when that was them.

"What was your best costume?"

Josie thought about it, "I dressed up as Spiderman one year. That was probably it. There's a picture of me holding my hand out like I'm shooting webs." She cringed, wondering why she had just said that.

Hope awed, pushing, "That's adorable, can I see it?"

Josie laughed, "Maybe. I don't know where it is, or if I even still have it."

"That's unfortunate. I bet you were really cute."

Her eyebrows shot up, "Yeah, no, you're never seeing that picture." She shook her head with a nervous grin.

Hope fake pouted, sticking out her bottom lip and aweing.

The taller girl chuckled, only giving an _uhm_ in response, letting the screams of the kids take the stage instead of her childhood.

Crossing the streets, snaking through neighborhoods, Hope knew which way she was going, and they were home in another ten minutes.

Josie opened the door to their apartment and they breathed a collective deep breath. She dropped her keys on the counter and said, "I'm tired. But tonight was fun."

"Yeah, me too, but I agree."

"Do you want to watch a movie?"

"Sure, you can choose, I'm gonna go change."

Josie grinned and already knew which movie she was going to pick. She went to the television and queued up _Halloween Town_. 

Hope came back a few minutes later, "Halloween Town?"

"Truly a classic, one of the best Halloween movies." She started to walk out of the room, "You make the popcorn while I change?"

"Sounds good."

Josie nodded and went to put on more comfortable clothes while Hope moved to the stove, setting a pot on one of the burners.

She added oil and then poured the popcorn in, turning it on high. Within a few minutes, she heard the sizzling sound and began to shake it.

Hope sat the pot back down and waited for the popping sound. It came soon after and she dumped the finished product into a bowl, pouring salt onto it as the last ingredient.

She moved to the couch and sat the popcorn on the coffee table, settling into the corner.

Josie came out a minute later and joined her on the couch, grabbing the remote and pushing play. She snuggled close into Hope, resting her head on her shoulder and drawing her legs up to the side.

The movie started and Hope grabbed a blanket off of the back of the couch, covering both of them up.

Josie sighed and realized just how tired she was. She was warm and comfortable next to Hope, and she felt safe. She began to doze off.

Hope looked down to see fluttering eyes that put a small smile on her face. She tugged the blanket up further around her and pulled Josie closer.

The two fell into a deep sleep somewhere between the beginning of the movie and the end. 

It was slow at first, and then it was all at once, kind of like how the day had gone. That night went by so fast, and Josie only wished she had the power to slow down time, to go back and do it again, to go back and live it again.

It was one of those nights that felt surreal, like one of those nights that was so good it didn't feel like it had actually happened, like it was a dream.

And as they drifted off into their dreams, cuddled up close to each other, it was the perfect ending to a perfect Halloween.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy All Hallows Eve!
> 
> Hope you liked it! Come yell at me on Twitter (josiesignalusa) or in the comments if you want to
> 
> Thank you for all the comments and kudos, they are much appreciated!


End file.
